A
research lab at North Dakota State University has been temporarily
closed after a chemical scare.

Students and staff were
evacuated Friday afternoon from the Research II building at the school's
Center for Nanoscience and Engineering. University administrator Philip
Boudjouk told the Fargo Forum that work on high-capacity batteries led
to a potentially dangerous chemical reaction.

Boudjouk
says the chemical compound was contained to a small container. No
injuries were reported.

Darlington County Deputies had the area roped off for
much of the day while a clean-up team from Spartanburg came in to clear
the hazardous materials.

Deputies say it was a dangerous situation not only for
officials responding to the scene, but also to those living
nearby.

"Every time we have a meth lab discovered, we have to
call in a hazmat team that'll come in and clean this thing up," explains
Captain Andy Locklair. "Day to day operations in law enforcement we
don't have the training for that kind of stuff."

Firefighters were notified of the derailment and
arrived on the scene to find diesel fuel leaking out of the first
locomotive. The locomotive was leaning off of the railroad tracks, but
had not fallen on its side. The other two locomotives were upright, but
off of the railroad tracks.

Approximately 1,000 to 1,500 gallons of diesel fuel
leaked out of the fill cap of the first locomotive and accumulated in a
natural ditch between two sets of railroad tracks.

Firefighters, trained in hazardous materials response, were
able to prevent the diesel from entering a nearby storm
sewer.

A semi truck carrying two
chemical tanks overturned in Kilkenny, Minn. releasing ammonia into the
air.

According to the LeSueue County Sheriff's Department,
just before 12 p.m. Friday, a truck carrying anhydrous ammonia
overturned on 420th State Route. Deputies report one of the tanks valves
opened during the accident and released the chemical.

Twenty-nine homes were evacuated and more than 500
residents were urged to stay indoors for about six hours Thursday when a
barn filled with pest-control chemicals caught fire in
Pedley.

The fire was reported at 10:17 a.m. in the 8600 block
of 54th Street, off Pedley Road, the Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire
Department said in a news release.

The barn contained 75
three-pound containers of aluminum phosphide, a chemical used to kill
off infestations of rodents, specifically gophers, Fire Department Capt.
Phil Rawlings said at the scene of the blaze. The owner of the home runs
a pest-control business, he said.

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